Job 23: 1 – 17
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t
1 Then Job answered and said: 2 “Even today my complaint is bitter; My hand is listless because of my groaning. 3 Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat! 4 I would present my case before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would know the words which He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me. 6 Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me. 7 There the upright could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge. 8 “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; 9 When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. 10 But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. 11 My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. 12 I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. 13 “But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does. 14 For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such things are with Him. 15 Therefore I am terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am afraid of Him. 16 For God made my heart weak, and the Almighty terrifies me; 17 Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, and He did not hide deep darkness from my face.
What is the proper Christian response to magic? Is it right for a Christian to use sleight of hand and illusion–aren’t these instruments dishonest and deceptive? Doesn’t the Bible forbid magic?
When the Bible uses the term “magic” (Revelation 22:15, Isaiah 47:12, NIV, Acts 19:19, NASB) or “magician” (Genesis 41:8, KJV) it is clearly dealing with a person’s involvement in the supernatural, usually with the collaboration of evil spirits. The context of the Bible prohibitions makes it clear that God does not want people to dabble in games with the devil. Today’s manifestations of these forbidden activities are such things as Ouija boards, tarot cards, the occult and horoscopes. The Christian has no business playing with these, since they open the door to demonic influence.
There may be confusion due to the fact that certain words have two meanings. “Magic” has the meaning of witchcraft or sorcery, but the word also means sleight of hand and illusion, the surprising, fascinating and entertaining performance. Obviously the Bible is talking about the first of these meanings and not the second.
One could raise the objection that it is wrong for the Christian to do any performance that could so easily be misinterpreted as sinful by someone who doesn’t know. Doesn’t the Bible warn us to “avoid all appearance of evil”? (I Thessalonians 5:22, KJV) Couldn’t innocent magic tricks be easily confused with forbidden activity?
In fact, a better translation of I Thessalonians 5:22 is “avoid every form of evil” (NASB) or “avoid every kind of evil” (NIV). In dealing with right and wrong, one must always be careful of appearances, but it is not the appearance that makes something right or wrong. The emphasis on appearance is the essence of hypocrisy! If the issue were that Christians are to refrain from doing anything that looks like sin or could be misinterpreted by someone who does not know, then we would never be able to do anything with confidence. According to this thinking, our Lord Jesus was correctly rebuked for eating with publicans, for forgiving prostitutes and for touching lepers. Certainly these actions confused many people, but the Son of God knew His mission and performed His ministry in spite of possible objections.
Another objection is that it is not right for the Christian to use trickery in presenting the truth. No matter how you slice it, magic involves deceit (illusion). Of course some “Gospel magicians” try to get around this objection by never actually saying their hand is empty when it isn’t, but they say, “my hand looks empty.” This skirts the issue, since the intent is for the audience to believe that the hand was empty (or that the bunny materialized from thin air, or that the red scarf actually turned white, etc.) The deceit was there, regardless of whether the performer told a lie with his words or with his actions.
Here we must deal with the nature of truth. At any given time, a presentation of truth only represents a portion of reality. I carry a photograph of my wife that everyone claims is a very candid likeness, yet it deceives in certain ways. For one thing, my wife is not black and white and gray; for another, she is more than two inches tall and is not flat. But the image abstracted by this photograph captures her expression and personality very honestly. It is an honest–though partial–representation of the truth. The issue is whether the Gospel magician conveys the impression that he is doing supernatural things, or whether he honestly acknowledges that what he is doing is trickery.
Something to bear in mind is the nature of drama. We are not “deceived” by the actor who is playing a part, and in fact we say that he played his part well. In drama we suspend what we know to be true rationally and enter into imagination and “believe” the story. But when it’s over, we don’t actually believe that we saw the real person being portrayed.
After all is said and done, most people acknowledge that magical entertainers do not actually have supernatural powers. If the total presentation is an accurate representation of Biblical truth, the audience will be impressed with the message, and not dazzled at the thought that a person has been doing actual superhuman feats.
It is fine to say that doing Gospel magic is not wrong, but is it right? Is there a Biblical justification for using magic to present Scriptural or spiritual truths?
The first part of the argument comes from Jesus’ own use of parables–visual aids. Matthew 13:34 indicates that in Jesus’ teaching, He always used object lessons. Sleight of hand and illusion provide a way of presenting some very powerful spiritual messages in a visual way. When a black cloth–representing sin–is transformed into a red cloth and then into a white cloth, it makes a very striking illustration of the change God makes in a person’s life when he or she trusts Christ. Magic tricks have power to gain and maintain attention.
The second part of a Biblical basis for Gospel magic is God’s own use of the spectacular as an attention-getting device. He could have dealt with people without using the miraculous, but with Moses He chose to use a bush that burned without being consumed; with Balaam He used a talking donkey; with Joshua He used a destructive trumpet blast to bring down the walls of Jericho, and with Belshazzar He wrote on the wall with a giant hand. Many of the prophets used spectacular attention-getting devices, such as shaving their head, wearing a disintegrating garment, making a model of Jerusalem. And what a sight Jonah must have been, bleached from the digestive juices of the great sea monster, as he paraded through Nineveh proclaiming the judgment of God.
But perhaps most spectacular of all are the descriptions of the events surrounding the death and resurrection of our Holy Master Lord Jesus. It could have happened without a lot of fanfare, but Christ’s death was accompanied by darkness and earthquake. The resurrection was accompanied by a blast of light that left the guards stunned and dazed.
There are some very impressive effects of “magic” that illustrate principles from the Scripture. When sleight of hand and illusion are harnessed for the purpose of explaining Gospel principles, they can be very powerful from a thinking and educational point of view.
A serious objection is that when people are amazed and admire the performer, this leads to pride on his part. This is certainly a possibility, and the Christian performer (no matter what art form) must guard against pride. This is true of the Christian singer, actor, magician,–and even preacher! Let us condemn pride in any form and in every presentation, but the possibility of pride should not deter from exercising a skill that can point people to God’s truth and lead them to Christ.
We use to have a street ministry called ‘Front Porch Evangelism’ here in Philadelphia. We would go to areas where the police were even hesitant to go to. The thing we understood was that there are children and people who need to hear about Jesus.
In Philadelphia we have what you call ‘row homes’. We would pick out an area and see a porch in the middle of the block and ask if we could use their front porch to do a puppet show for the kids. Word would get out to many surrounding blocks and we would draw hundreds of kids and parents. For many they were thrilled as though the circus had come to town. Many people couldn’t believe that we would venture into their area. We used canned music, puppets, and a couple of magic tricks to bring forth our message to the people that we were not just there to entertain the people but to tell them that we had come to the ‘Bad Lands’ to let them know that Jesus loves them. In the end we had such joy seeing hundreds of kids and adults ask Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. If you have ever seen the ‘Wizard of Oz’ you remember the munchkins saying goodbye to Dorothy. This was what it was like leaving after our time with these precious people. Many were running down the street waving goodbye to us with tears flowing.
So if you wind up having some “magic” presentation at your church don’t worry about being fooled. Almost all these folks show you how they do the trick. Pray for the Christian magician. He wants to present Gospel truths in an effective way, without violating what is proper. It is easy to give in to the sins of pride and presumption. He needs your understanding and support. Praise God that He has given this performer opportunity to present a message at places where a preacher would never be able to speak.
Seek God’s mind. Be sympathetic and ask God to help you understand what attitude is right to have towards forms of ministry that you do not wholeheartedly understand or endorse. Realize that the same skill may not be best for everyone, but God can bless it and use it for His glory.
Remember how we spoke about Eliphaz’s vision back in chapter 4. He had impressed upon Job and his fellow travelers that an angelic being came and advised him. When you go over this portion you find that this was an angelic visitor all right but it was not a good angel. Why, you might ask? Well in the book of James chapter 3 we learn how Wisdom is dispensed from heaven, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” When you read over the portion where Eliphaz hears from his visitors the message does not gel with the scripture I just mentioned.
Job had listened to Eliphaz explain how he had an angelic visitor. Unlike Eliphaz’s visitor that now you saw him and now you don’t, Job in reply says that he cannot call and God will show up and have a conversation with him. Whichever direction he looks God Is not there for him.
This chapter begins Job’s reply to Eliphaz. In this reply he takes no notice of the other men. He appeals to Almighty God and begs to have his cause heard, having the testimony of his own conscience concerning his integrity. Here seems to be a struggle between flesh and spirit, fear and faith.
We are going to see the following things happen in this chapter, please notice how Job’s thoughts bounce back and forth between hope and doubt;
1. In verses 1 through 5 He complains of his awful condition, and especially of how he feels that God has withdrew from him, so that he could not get his appeal heard
2. In verses 6 and 7 Job comforts himself with the assurance of God’s clemency
3. In verses 8 and 9 Job reverts back again to confusion why God was dealing so harshly with him.
4. In verses 10 through verse 14 he reflects on how he has been trying to be faithful to Almighty God and live good and honorable throughout his life and that he understood that this was all seen by God.
5. We see in verses 15 through 17 that Job reverts back to despair in thinking that he will not be delivered from this nightmare or get any hope of relief. This thinking causes him to fall into a deep impression of trouble and terror.
1 Then Job answered and said: 2 “Even today my complaint is bitter; My hand is listless because of my groaning.
Job is sure that he has suffered wrong which was done to him by these men. He will not give up the cause, nor let them have the last word. He says to them, ‘you guys say my words are rebellion against Almighty God. But”, says he, "I am not complaining more than there is cause; for my suffering is heavier than my groaning. Even today, after all you have said to convince and comfort me, still the pains of my body and the wounds of my spirit are such that gives me more than enough reason to cry out.”
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat!
Like Paul Job comforted himself with the truth that the Supreme Judge who would be the ultimate decision Maker Is The Lord. While the apostle Paul was willing to wait until the Lord decided to finish his course, Job is impatient and wishes to have his case tried quickly.
4 I would present my case before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
Think on this fact. When we come face to face with our Holy Creator how anyone can consider that he or she is going to have an argument with Him. I am sure that you have heard from people that ‘when I see Him I have a lot of questions for Him to answer.’ Oh really? I don’t think so.
I grew up in a religion that encouraged, no actually instructed that you cannot speak to our Father God but you must go to a man who they say represents God here on earth. I have a theological term for this – ‘Baloney’. Just stop and think about this fact – before these religions actually began – Job knew that he had the right to speak directly with the One Who made the Heavens and the earth.
5 I would know the words which He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me.
Job knew that Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High – Is Good! So, he was looking forward to come before Father God since he knew His Judgment is according to truth, while the accusations of the three visitors were not. For a believer we need to totally understand that God Almighty is not a Judge to us but only to the unsaved. He rather Is our Great and Holy Father.
6 Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me. 7 There the upright could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge
Meditating on the fact, that our God Is Wonderful, caused Job to think peaceful thoughts. He understood that God’s Power is just and that He deals in tender compassion. He was looking forward in eager anticipation to relief and deliverance from the wrongful verbal attacks being conducted by the three men who were terrorizing him.
8 “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; 9 When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.
Job here responds to Eliphaz’s remarks about having an angelic messenger visit him. Job responds that he is not a magician who can just call out a ‘hocus pocus’ and miraculously have God show up.
10 But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
Here we see a special enlightenment of truth come to Job. In a way he understands that the problems that he is experiencing is a trial that God has allowed to happen to him – You have tried my heart towards You and when I finished this lesson I will come forth as purer gold. Those that keep the way of the Lord may comfort themselves, when they are in affliction, with these three things:
[1.] That they are but tried. It is not intended for their hurt, but for their honor and benefit; it is the trial of their faith. The apostle Peter in his first letter chapter 1 expands on this truth, “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls. 10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.
[2.] That, when they are sufficiently tried, they shall come forth out of the furnace, and not be left to consume in it as dross or reprobate silver. The trial will have an end. God will not contend for ever.
[3.] That they shall come forth as gold, pure in itself and precious to the refiner. They shall come forth as gold approved and improved, found to be good and made to be better. Remember this dear brother or sister who goes through afflictions. These tests are to us as we are; those that go in as gold into the furnace will come out no worse.
11 My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside.
The holding God’s steps, and keeping His way, intimate that the tempter had used all his arts by fraud and force to draw Job aside; but, with care and resolution, he had by the grace of God persevered. Likewise we need to learn and understand that those that will do so must hold and keep - hold with resolution and keep with watchfulness.
Also Job followed God’s word. It was the rule he used. Look at the importance he placed on it.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
At the time of Job please understand that there wasn’t anything written down. Remember that Moses who ultimately put down on parchment the first five books of the bible would not be born for many years. Yet look at the way men of old behaved - He governed himself by the commandment of God’s lips The flood took place in the year 1656, right after the last Adamic patriarch, Methuselah died. Noah was still alive when Abraham was born, and died when Abraham was 58 years old. Shem, the son of Noah died 35 years after Abraham died. The entire blood line of Shem was still alive, when Abraham was born. With Noah born only 126 years after the death of Adam, and was Seth alive until 14 years before the birth of Noah, we can see that the passing of information from one generation to the next had plenty of time, and that each generation had a full knowledge of God, that did not begin to deteriorate until the birth of Abraham. If you were with us from chapter 1 we learned that Job existed during the time of the Patriarch’s, which was the time of Abraham.
Whatever difficulties we may meet with in the way of God’s commandments, though they lead us through a wilderness, yet we must never think of going back, but must press on towards the mark toward the high calling of God.
Here is a truth we need to memorize. The word of God is to our souls what our necessary food is to our bodies; it sustains the spiritual life and strengthens us for the actions of life; it is that which we cannot subsist without, and which nothing else can make up the want of: and we need to desire it, to take pains for it, hunger after it, feed upon it with delight, and nourish our souls with it; and this will be our rejoicing in the day of evil, as it was Job’s here.
13 “But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does.
The apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews chapter 13 utilizes this point brought out by Job when he reports that ‘Jesus Christ Is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change. This is great news for what we read about out Awesome Savior. We can count on Him Being That Exact Holy One for us in every situation. Also in the book of Malachi Adoni Yahweh says, “For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob
14 For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such things are with Him.
God Almighty’s power is irresistible: Whatever He desires or designs even that He does, and nothing can stand in His way. Psalm 135 verse 6 teaches us this, “Whatever the LORD pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places.” All He does is according to the counsel of His will. So, remember and take this to heart. Nothing happens to you unless it passes our Great God’s desk and His approval is on it. When God was appointing us to eternal life and glory as our end, He was appointing affliction, whatever it is, in our way It may satisfy us that it is all for the best; though what He does we know not now, yet we shall know hereafter.
15 Therefore I am terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am afraid of Him. 16 For God made my heart weak, and the Almighty terrifies me; 17 Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, and He did not hide deep darkness from my face.
Psalm 77 verse 3 also reports a fear of God when you think about Him, “I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. SELAH
When you jump back to verses 8 and 9 Job was troubled at God’s absence now he is terrified at His Presence. How can this be?
I think you can agree with me as we look at the news is our gratitude our Holy God has saved us. I do not know how people can stand all this evil without the presence and assurance of God in their lives. Therefore I now know and understand that I would be terrified now without His Presence in my life. I like and agree with king David who was terrified that the Holy Spirit would depart from him because of his sins as brought out in the book of Psalms 51 “
“1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight—that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise. 16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise. 18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.”
Even though we love Him we are terrified at His Majesty. There is indeed that which, when we consider it, will show that we have cause to be afraid of God—His infinite justice and purity, compared with our own sinfulness. Look at just one example. Here are the words of one of His prophets when he experienced the very appearance of The Lord Most High. Isaiah said this in chapter 6 of his book when our Holy God showed up to appoint his as His spokesperson.
“1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.”
Let us end this chapter looking once again at the last verse –“17 Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, and He did not hide deep darkness from my face.
Many people fight to stay here in this world. In many cases the Lord in His Mercy ends a person’s life here on earth in order to save that person from future difficulties. We see an example of this in the life of a good king of Judah by the name of Hezekiah.
“1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ” 2 Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, 3 “Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 5 “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. 6 And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.” ’ ” 7 Then Isaiah said, “Take a lump of figs.” So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. 8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD the third day?” 9 Then Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?” 10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.” 11 So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.
So, you might ask why was extending Hezekiah’s life bad. Well during those 15 extra years the Lord gave to Hezekiah he fathered a son by the name of Manasseh. This guy turned out to be the most wicked king of Judah. So, if Hezekiah’s life was not extended Manasseh would never have been born.
In the new testament we read of similar explanations on how our Lord might step in and end a person’s life if he or she has a future of hurting others or themselves. We read this point in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 that it is important to examine yourself
“27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.”
Please notice in verse 30 [many sleep] the our Holy Master intervenes and ends a person’s life if the future of that person becomes worse. You see this sadly on many occasions when a young person overdoses on drugs.
